Alkali metal silicate materials, such as sodium alumino-silicates, are well known. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of alkali metal alumino-silicate materials known in the prior art-the natural and the synthetic alkali metal alumino-silicates.
The alkali metal alumino-silicates known as natural zeolites are mined products which are crystalline in nature. Synthetic alkali metal alumino-silicate products are either amorphous or crystalline reaction products. The crystalline synthetic alkali metal alumino-silicates are also called synthetic zeolites. Various types of amorphous synthetic alkali metal alumino-silicates are known as well as synthetic silicas and alumino-silicates.
In order to fully appreciate the present invention it is necessary to draw the appropriate distinctions between the unique compositions of the present invention and the prior art compositions of specific silicas and synthetic silicates referred to in general above.